| Abstract: | In today’s world, small islands are exposed to unprecedented impacts of global climate change.
The ability of small islands to adjust and cope with these impacts is based on a number of
socio-ecological parameters. Research on adaptive capacity has gained momentum within the
last decade, and opted assets-based theories, correlating adaptive capacity to utilisation of
available opportunities and resources. While such methodologies have major limitations, there
is a dearth of studies on adaptive capacity of small islands at the frontier of global climate
change. The small island nations are threatened with loss of culture and disruptions to
livelihoods, as well as ability to support human habitation from the predicted future effects of
climate change.
This thesis provides information on this life and cultural threatening issues by identifying the
potential for, and limits to, climate change adaptive capacity in the islands of the Maldives
through a lens of islandness. This thesis employed a multidisciplinary theoretical framework
and contributed to a holistic understanding of adaptive capacity of small islands. The study
utilised theory of islandness from an epistemological perspective of pragmatism. The
concurrent mixed methods approach, based on analogue comparative case study methodology,
involved both constructivist and positivist approaches. The study examined five case study
islands from the Maldives and triangulated data obtained from document analysis, participatory
climate change adaptation appraisal, stakeholder interviews, surveys, and spatial analysis of
biogeophysical characteristics.
The results of this study demonstrated that adaptive capacity of islands is a predicament of the
biogeophysical characteristics, socio-politics and governance, socio-cultural, and socio economic factors. The analyses revealed that: (1) the most critical influence on adaptive
capacity is from biogeophysical characteristics of islands, followed by socio-cognitive aspects
related to belief efficacy of islanders; (2) at a household level, assets, social organisation and
flexibility contributed significantly to adaptive capacity; (3) the islands are currently
approaching their adaptive capacity thresholds, owing to non-linearity of responses of
biogeophysical features of islands to ongoing climate change impacts, especially increases in
temperature, sea level rise and changes in rainfall; (4) islands at the edge of crossing the
adaptive capacity thresholds require engineered transformative adaptation; and (5)
transformation of adaptive capacity into adaptive actions requires empowerment of islanders,
democratisation of institutions, and strategic planning of hard and soft adaptation measures
within an island context and scale.
Consequently, encoding and decoding of adaptive capacity from an island epistemological
view defines what socioecological aspects, and by which strategies, adaptation can be
mobilised and enhanced. Emergent findings indicative of future research includes
incorporating ethnography with phenomenology in the study of adaptive capacity and refining
the methods used in data collection. Additionally, the present research confirmed that an
adaptive capacity index does not translate how the adaptive capacity can be mobilised in to
action in islands, and is not significant. The results of this thesis offer significant contribution
for policy makers and adaptation practitioners on how climate change policies and strategies
need to commensurate with the context of the dynamic socio-ecological system of the islands.
The present study also offers an insight of strengths, limitations and challenges on islands in
adapting to future climate change. |
